This invention relates to the art of positioning tooling with respect to a workpiece, and more particularly to a new and improved method and apparatus for positioning tooling with respect to a curvilinear workpiece.
One area of use of the present invention is positioning tooling in the form of drilling and riveting tools with respect to a curvilinear workpiece in the form of an aircraft fuselage section, although the principles of the present invention can be variously applied. In the manufacture of aircraft, various systems have been utilized for assembling large curvilinear and cylindrical parts. Traditional manufacture has involved enormous manual effort and extensive fixturing of parts. Of particular interest in the area of use of the present invention are the skin lap splices and butt splices which are attached during a major join of an aircraft fuselage. These areas are inaccessable to conventional C-frame automatic fastening machines, and heretofore fasteners have been installed by manual methods.
It would, therefore, be highly desirable to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for positioning tooling with respect to a curvilinear workpiece and having application to automatically drilling, inserting and upsetting one or two-piece fasteners, for example exterior skin rivets on an airplane fuselage.